Allfirst, the US subsidiary of AIB Bank, is an amalgam of small regional banks acquired by the Irish bank since it entered the US market in 1983.

AIB initially bought a stake in First Maryland Bancorp and later increased it to 100 per cent in 1989. It made further acquisitions in the Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, northern Virginia and Delaware regions before re-branding the entire US operations under the Allfirst banner in 1999.

Allfirst has 250 branches and more than 575 cash machines. It employs in excess of 6,000 people and has financial assets of around $18.4 billion (€21.2 billion).

The subsidiary is headquartered in Baltimore and provides a full range of financial services including banking, trust, investment, insurance and services to retail, business and commercial customers.

AIB has come under pressure to justify its continuing investment in Allfirst. In difficult economic conditions there are concerns about the extent of bad debts on its books. As a small regional bank, its potential to deliver significant profits relative to AIB's continuing investment has also been questioned.

Mr Michael Buckley who took over as chief executive of AIB last year has vigorously defended Allfirst's position within the group and has signalled he has no desire to sell it off. Just last month, AIB added the Canadian Ketchum group to Allfirst as part of its plans to expand further in the not-for-profit sector in North America.

There are two representatives of the US operations on the bank's Group Executive Committee, which runs the bank. They are Mr Frank Bramble, chief executive of the USA division and chairman of Allfirst, and Allfirst president and chief executive, Ms Susan Keating. In the six months to the end of June 2001, Allfirst reported profits of $170 million, up from $164 million.